this hilarious creature turns one next monday. we aren't thinking about that right now though, because it clearly has to be fiction. but i am writing her birth story. and it's almost done.
as i've been writing it, i am going back and reliving all the discomfort of pregnancy and the pain of childbirth. even in my memory, it's intense.
but then i look at the little bee-bopping sassy perfect goober that those trials brought forth and i feel like i catch a glimpse of grace.
from blood, life. from pain, joy. worth it? obviously. it feels like a jesus moment and i have to catch my breath.
can he really love me this much? yes. and the labor to bring me to him hurt immeasurably more. whoa.
ok this one is just plain funny. she looks like a little hippie who smoked some peyote and become one with nature.
as promised...today i give you the tutorial for the double braid version of my braided scarf.
the single braid tutorial that has gotten so much awesome feedback and love (sew, mama, sew! and prudent baby featured it in their round ups! holy SQUEEEE!) that i can't even cope. seriously. the pins, the comments, the emails, the traffic: they have been amazing. i love the bloggy and sewing world. i hope lots of folks will thrilled to receive these great handmade scarves, made by their loved ones, for christmas this year. or you could just be like me and make a bunch for yourself. that's cool. grinches gots to stay warm too.
to get this look for your scarf you will follow the single braid tutorial up through step 3. that is where we pick up.
we are basically just adding an extra knot (that we manually create by twisting rather that using the pull-through tie method like with the first braid) instead of the color-blocked closure on the other side. but this second knot is extra tricky because you have less length to work with and you have to kind of ghetto-make the knot.
here's how we break it down. this version is much more confusing to explain and photograph (especially since i used the exact same color combo as the single braid...whoops), so bear with me. i am adding notes underneath for the steps that arent self-explanatory.
b-remember which color you start with on the bottom.
h-put the opposite color on the bottom when you start to join your remaining two ends. if you dont do this, you wont end up with a symmetrical braid.
m through p: once both sides of the braid are twisted as pictured (feel free to add more twists than i did, just make sure you do it the same on both sides of this knot) you need to pinch same-colored ends together.
but if you look at the your already completed braid, you can see that we want one tip of our knot (the part of each knot where each color makes a u-turn and heads in the opposite direction) to come together on top of the contrasting color (purple in my example) and one tip to come together underneath its contrasting color (the turquoise).
in the first braid, these were simply the creases where we folded our long tubes in half in step 3a, but here we are taking the tails and will be sewing them together to make the finished u-turn shape.
SO, that means you need to make sure that you have one set sort of straddling (hiyo!) its contrasting color and coming together to meet up behind or underneath it. this is what step m is. my purple ends meet up underneath the two blue loops.
that means that my blue ends will come together on top of the purple at the other end of this knot. so in step n, you want to grab the blue ends. right now the top (as in north-most if the screen was a map) blue end is under the top purple bend and the bottom blue end is sandwiched on top of the bottom purple bend and underneath the top purple bend.
in step o, you want to pull your blue ends, together, backward through and underneath the purple bend that leads to that tippy top purple strand.
then in p you pull them forward again, but on top of the purple bend. the point where they come together should now rest atop both purple strands.
i realize this is super confusing in words, more confusing than it actually is to just do. but look at the pictures, watch the video if you need to, and play with yours a few times and you'll start to see where you're headed. to see if you are on the right track: pin your ends together after making your knot and then tighten to see if the finished product is right.
here is a video of me tying this second knot live, if that helps you more.
it is going to look at this point like you will never have enough length to make an actual scarf. that is fine. it's just because we havent tightened the knot yet. be patient and have faith. take heart, jesus has overcome the world. this scarf aint nothing.
for each set of raw ends: pinch them together side by side, aligning your original long seams from step 1. pin through all 4 layers to hold in place. repeat with the other pair of ends.
here is what you are going to take to the sewing machine: a jumbled mess with two ends pinned together with the hope of a brighter tomorrow.
now you are going to go back to the single tutorial and pick up at STEP 6 to finish the ends.
when you are finished machine and hand stitching, your scarf is going to look something like this (minus the hole, since i took this pic before hand-sewing mine shut):
this is going to make you kind of sad (or maybe its just my nasty carpet making you feel that way) but that's okay! your pretty double braid is in there! there is no such hope for our carpet; nothing pretty resides in it, just old cheez-it dust and doxy eggs.
now you are just going to slowly pinch, cinch and twist to get your braid looking right. this may take a few tries. see where your seams line up, how and where the fabric is bunching, and check to make sure the loops are staying even (that you arent pulling to one side more than the other). keep playing with it until you get it just how you like it. you cant really mess it up at this point because the knots are permanently sewn into that configuration.
this is how i like mine (you can see i flipped one of the knots around compared to the picture of this scarf at the top of this post so that i would have one knot going in each direction).
oh my gosh, i am so photogenic and at ease in front of a camera. it just comes naturally.
alas, those are lies. this photo session was as grueling as the first trying to get a usable photo of me. this one was actually even worse because the plumber was working right beside us this whole time.
i could give seminars.
and at this finished length, the scarf can be worn doubled over:
pretty cozy. however, it's a little more snug than i was comfortable with. if you intend to make yours for doubling, you might want to add some extra length (or use a very stretchy fabric) unless you are cool with looking like this while trying to put it on:
now we can all enjoy the view my mom's OB had 29 years ago.
as always, if you have any questions, please email me {putapuredukes (at) gmail (dot) com} and i will be glad to try to help.
and send me those pics of your completed scarves. they really make my day!
if you want to make these to sell, please let me know ahead of time and link back to me since i worked so hard on this tutorial.
and if you'd prefer to just buy a completed scarf, i am still selling these in lots of different color combos, in my etsy shop.
having a sunshine yellow front door has led to some tricky decisions for wreaths. clashing, melting people retinas with too much color and inadvertently going the ketchup/mustard look are all pitfalls to be avoided at any cost. we had just been sticking with our green spray wreath with fake goldish berries, but after 5 years, it was time for a change and some seasonal flair.
i recently saw a pin for 30 fall wreath ideas on pinterest and knew that i could find something that would go well on our special little door and still herald the season that makes us all smile.
i took some ideas for a few in this great collection. i went with a burlap and felt flower combo.
this was start to finish a 30 minute project. here's what i used:
-a wreath form (i used a straw wreath still in its plastic because i had one already, but will be using this CHEAP substitute in the future)
-hot glue gun
-3 sheets of fall colored felt
-1/2 yard of burlap from joann (so cheap!)
-a 1-yard piece of coordinating silky ribbon for hanging
i cut the burlap into long strips about 2.5" wide and wound them around and around the wreath form, gluing at the beginning and end of each strip (in the back of the wreath where possible to hide the junctions).
to make the flowers, i just cut long strips of the felt, about a 1/2" wide. then i rolled them up, gluing every few times around until they reached a good size. then i glued them to the burlap in a formation that made me happy.
i never solved the mystery of how to stop the burlap from fraying, so i just gave the wreath a haircut when it was all over and tried not to jostle any more strands loose.
to hang it, i got some pretty brown ribbon (ideally, i would have found a much thicker ribbon, but this was all they had in the by-the-yard option), looped it around and duct taped the ends to the tippy top of our door, making sure to center it over the peep hole.
come on in! in the house that goes with this door, we will roast chestnuts, bake pie and snuggle. we definitely wont scrape petrified cheerios off the carpet and try to track down the source of "that smell."
